Sewer Trolls and Psycho Penguins
by Eileen
Summary: FINISHED AT LAST! Kurt is very ill and having hallucinations. Can the others bring him back to his senses? The stunning conclusion up now!
1. Attack of the Sewer Trolls

OKAY, I'LL THINK OF A TITLE LATER

SEWER TROLLS AND PSYCHO PENGUINS

** **

(Disclaimer: all characters belong to Marvel/Kids WB. Except Godzilla, I'm not quite sure who owns him.)

(A/N: this was inspired by an ongoing story thread on the Comic Castle board. Thanks, Dr. Doom2099.)

It was night.

**BAMF! **Nightcrawler appeared atop a tall building. He stared out into the night, as if waiting for something.

He didn't have to wait long.

The ground started shaking He struggled to keep his balance as the building rocked back and forth.

He teleported into a nearby alley to get a better view, and someone grabbed him. He hit his head on the wall and was knocked unconscious.

When he came to, he was in a low-ceilinged room with candles all around. He was lying on a velvet-covered couch, clad only in his boxers. Where were his clothes?

"So you're awake," a voice said. Kurt looked up and saw a beautiful stranger in Chinese silk pajamas. She sat down beside him on the velvet couch. "How's the head?"

"Hurts a little," he said, reaching up to touch it. It was then that he noticed that he was still blue and furry. His hologram watch was gone. "Vhere are my clothes?" he demanded.

"I thought you'd be more comfortable without them," she said, smiling seductively.

"I need zhem back!"

"All in due time."

There was a low rumbling sound outside. "You live near zhe subvay?"

"No," she laughed. "That's just Godzilla."

"Oh, okay." He lay back and closed his eyes. Then he opened them in alarm. "Godzilla?"

"I've told him to keep the noise down," she said, "but he never listens."

Kurt jumped up quickly. "Vhere are my clothes? I have to—"

She pushed him back down. "You don't have to do anything but lie there and rest."

"I feel fine!"

"You might have a concussion," she warned him.

"Zhere's a monster outside and you're vorried about me having a concussion?" He looked around. Ah, there was his X-Men costume, resting on the back of a chair.

He 'ported over to it, put it on (who cared what she saw? She'd been pretty close to seeing it anyway), and then teleported out into the street to deal with the threat.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Professor X demanded.

"Gone. Left. Vamoosed. Missing," Logan elaborated. "He took off."

"How could this have happened?"

"I didn't know we were supposed to tie him down! It's the Medical Ward, not the prison ward! I didn't think he was gonna get up and walk out!"

"I checked the outside sensors," Scott Summers told them. "He hasn't left the grounds. He's still in the building . . . somewhere."

"What's goin' on?" Rogue asked, coming into the room.

"Kurt's gone," said Kitty.

Rogue let out a startled moan. "Oh my God. I knew he was sick, but—"

"Not that kind of gone!" Logan said. "He's left the Medical Ward. We don't know where he is."

"Well, shouldn't we find him?"

"He probably went back to his room," Jean Grey suggested. "Why don't we start there?"

"Good idea, Jean," the Professor said. "Split up and search. See if you can locate Kurt telepathically. I'll do the same."

Kurt's sense of direction must have been screwed up. When he went out to fight Godzilla, he ended up in a sewer.

_Great_, he thought. _How did I miss zhe street?_

He could hear something skittering behind him, and resisted the urge to turn and look. Probably just rats.

Then, by the light of a grating far above, he saw them.

Sewer trolls!

Ugly little critters, they were. And armed, with what looked like miniature pickaxes.

They uttered a battle cry (which sounded something like "Gabblah!") and charged at him.

"EWWWW!" Kurt groaned, ducking out of the way. He popped up behind one of the trolls and snatched him up, throwing him into the wall. He grabbed the pickaxe and chopped a hole in the nearest wall, hoping to escape.

But instead, on the other side of the wall, he found . . .

. . . a very nasty-looking spider-being! It had robotic arms that grabbed at him, and fangs that slashed like knives at his uniform . . .

"Good news and bad news," Scott said.

"Start with the good news," said Jean.

"The good news is, we've found Kurt."

"Where?"

"That's the bad news," Scott sighed. "He's in the Danger Room."

"WHAT?"

"Why don't we just go in and get him out?" Rogue asked.

"It's not that simple. He doesn't know he's in the Danger Room. If we all rush there without any kind of warning, he might attack us by mistake."

"Poor Kurt," Kitty moaned. "Can't we do anything to help him? He might die!"

"I don't think so," Scott said. "We've already done a manual shutdown. Last I saw, he was just lying on the floor, mumbling something about furniture. I think if we move in carefully, we should be able to get him out all right."

"He's so confused," Jean said. "He doesn't know where he is or what's happening to him. If we can just get him back to the Medical Ward, we can start treating him."

"I'll get some ice," Kitty offered. "Just . . . don't hurt him?"

The spider-thing was gone, but now Kurt didn't know where he was.

He was staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, spotted yellow from water stains. He sat up and looked around.

"Oh no, you mustn't do that," a voice from behind him said. "You lie back down like a good boy."

It was a woman's voice, and it sounded vaguely familiar . . .

"Kitty?"

She came into view, and his breath caught in his throat. It was the woman from before.

No, it wasn't. Her hair was a different color—more brown than black, and her chin was sharper.

"Who _are_ you?" he asked.

"Someone who loves you," she said. She spread a blue-and-white crocheted afghan over him. "You just rest, and I'll bring you some tea."

"But I don't . . ." She was already gone.

She came back with a mug and a plateful of sandwiches. "How's my little patient doing?"

Before he could answer, she stuck a thermometer in his mouth.

Then the room turned upside down. Kurt felt his head spinning as the floor and the ceiling changed places, but somehow the couch stayed exactly where it was. "Vat is going on?" he mumbled around the thermometer.

"Ah, ah, ah!" she scolded him. "Don't talk. Not till I'm finished with the giraffes."

He blinked at her—he couldn't possibly have heard that right. "**Vat** did you say?"

"I thought I told you not to talk," she said. Her hair changed color as he was looking at her, from brown to red. He had to be losing his mind.

Then she turned blue, and he started in alarm. It was his mother, Mystique.

She took the thermometer out. "Oh, my poor baby. You're burning up! You have a temperature of 225!"

Now he **knew** he wasn't hearing her right. 225? He'd be dead!

The far wall vanished. In its place was a wooden dock on a beautiful lake.

Suddenly Mystique picked him up off the couch. "Vat are you doing?" Kurt demanded.

"Sweetheart," she said, "I'm doing this for your own good."

Then she dumped him in the lake.

"Something very weird is going on in there," Jean said. "Kurt's just lying on the floor, making burbling sounds."

"Is he okay?" Rogue asked anxiously.

"For now."

"Then we should get him outta there while we can!" Rogue insisted.

Kurt began to thrash around, calling, "Muzzer, no! Don't . . . don't!"

"I'm goin' in." Rogue started to rush into the Danger Room, but Scott stopped her.

"I'll go," he said. "In case he starts to freak out again, let's trip the fail-safe circuits and pull him out." With that, Scott entered the Danger Room, where Kurt was lying on the floor, making swimming motions.

Kurt was trying desperately to swim to the surface (and at the same time dodge the ever-present sewer trolls), when he saw Scott standing on the surface of the water. "Vat are you doing here? I didn't know you could valk on vater!"

"Kurt, you're hallucinating! There is no water! We need to get you back to bed right away." Scott extended a hand toward the delirious boy. "Come with me—"

Mystique was standing behind him.

"NOOOOOOOOO! No, Mama, don't!" Kurt shouted, jumping up and trying to grab at her as she disappeared.

Then he was on the rooftop again. "This is not good," Scott said, as Kurt fought off another attack of the sewer trolls.

"Gabbilah!" The trolls were all over him, trying to tear his head off. "Bagah!"

"Help me!" Kurt called to Scott, who just stood there. "Do somezing!"

"I need some help here!" Scott yelled to the others as Kurt fought off the sewer trolls.

Rogue wasted no time in shifting direction to pull Kurt out before he hurt himself. "C'mon, Blue, forget about sewer trolls and let's get you home before you really hurt yourself." Her hand brushed his forehead. _God, he's really done a number on himself since he's been down here._ "Professor! We need a first aid kit on the double! And a stretcher!"

"Gazibah!" said a sewer troll as he pounded on Kurt's head.

"Get it off me!" Kurt shouted. He couldn't believe the others were just standing there while a sewer troll tried to kill him.

"Bagah!" Another troll jumped on his chest and tried to separate Kurt's head from his body.

Kurt screamed at the top of his lungs, and still the others stood there and did nothing. Then he felt something sting him on the inside of his arm and the sewer trolls began to fade away. "Vat . . .?"

Then everything went dark.

(A/N: Don't worry! He'll be okay! Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon!)


	2. Kitty's Song

**SEWER TROLLS AND PSYCHO PENGUINS (part 2)**

"Poor Kurt," Kitty said. "I really, like, hated to do that to him."

"He's really in rough shape," Scott said. "He'll probably need at least a week in the Medical Ward. We need to start him on some kind of medication."

Kitty held Kurt's head as the others lifted him onto a stretcher and carried him to the medical unit.  Jean in turn held Kitty and comforted her while Kurt was lifted onto a bed and strapped down.

"Do they have to do that?" the younger girl asked.

Jean nodded. "To keep him from hurting himself any more. Don't worry, as soon as he's better we'll take them off."

"Muzzer . . . please don't," Kurt pleaded, clawing at the air.

"Awwwk!" A penguin threw a water balloon at him. "Awk awk awwwwwkkkk!"

Behind them stood Mystique, waving a bucket full of something green and slimy. "No! Don't!" Kurt screamed in panic, thrashing about. "Stop! Please!"  
The bucket was upended over his head. He felt thick, gooey slime running down his face while the penguins kept squawking and throwing things at him.

"Now what do we do?" Kitty asked. She was sponging him down with cool water, to try and break the fever.

"I don't know. The sedative doesn't seem to be working. If he doesn't start to cool down soon, we might have to take him to the hospital." Jean told her.

Kitty gulped and looked terrified at that prospect. "How could this happen? He was fine yesterday. Now all of a sudden, he's practically at death's door! How did that happen?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Jean wasn't any happier with the situation. "As far as we can tell, it's just a random bug. You know how they get around school."

"So why isn't anyone else sick?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to even think about that!" 

Kurt seemed to be settling down, but who knew what was going on in his head?

The sewer trolls were pounding on him worse than ever. And behind them, his mother stood, watching, like a stone statue. There was no hint of emotion on her face.

The penguins were pelting either Kurt or the sewer trolls with water balloons; it was hard to tell who their target was, since everyone was all tangled up together. 

Then everything changed again.

Shadowy forms surrounded him. They looked big. Very big. Gigantic, really. But not familiar in the slightest. They seemed to be from another planet, they were so bizarre-looking. "Help!"

"There's no help for you," someone said. "Soon you will be beheaded and your body ground up to feed the sewer trolls—"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Kurt sat up suddenly, screaming at the top of his lungs. His eyes were open, but he didn't seem to be seeing anything. Anything but his nightmares, that is.

He was straining against the straps that held him down. If they broke . . .

Kitty had an idea. She began to sing to him in a soft, soothing voice. She sang about how much she cared about him, and how she hoped he felt the same way. All the time she stroked the soft fur on his face. After a few minutes he stopped struggling, and soon he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Kitty was pleased that he was okay, but she didn't want to leave just yet. So she kept on singing for a while, until finally Kurt felt better and relaxed completely.

Kitty hadn't known anyone was behind her until she turned and saw Jean there. "Oh! Uh, he seems to be okay now. I was . . . just . . . well . . . sort of singing to him . . ."

"I heard," Jean said. "You have a really nice voice. Ever thought about joining the chorus?"

"No." As if she didn't have enough after-school stuff to deal with already.

"You might want to think about it," Jean told her. "You could be the star of the school show."

"You really think so?" Kitty looked back at Kurt, who was still sleeping, and decided he'd be okay if she left the room. _I wonder what he's dreaming now?_ She thought to herself, as she followed Jean.

Meanwhile, Kurt, for the first time in days, was enjoying a restful sleep.

But it wasn't to last long. Soon he slipped into darkness again, thrashing about as if something were chasing him . . .


	3. Reverie

**SEWER TROLLS AND PSYCHO PENGUINS (part 3)**

"Gah bah zah mah!" The sewer trolls were back, and in full force, on Kurt's head.

"Help!" Kurt struggled to get out from under their relentless assault, but the trolls would not back down no matter how much he tried to stop them.

And Mystique was still there, holding that bucket with the fish and slime in it. And the penguins were there too. "Awk awk awwwk!"

"Ach, leave me alone!" Kurt demanded, hitting the trolls with his fists. It had no effect.

"Awk awk awwwk awwk!" The penguins pummeled Kurt with their flippers. Kurt had always liked the penguins at the aquarium. They were cute, not psychotic fiends like the ones that were attacking him now.

Something was holding him down. A big, fat something that helped the penguins smack him around and otherwise abuse him till he was almost unconscious.

Wouldn't this torment ever end?

Just then he heard music playing somewhere in the distance. He couldn't quite make out the tune, though. Nonetheless, it sounded familiar to him . . . and quite pretty, too.

"I hope this works," Kitty said. She stroked Kurt's forehead; he was still so hot as a result of the mystery virus. "Kurt's getting worse, I think."

"I don't like the sound of that," said Storm. She checked Kurt's vital signs and shook her head. "He **is **getting worse. We'd better get him to the critical care unit on the double."

"Is he . . .?"

"Not yet, but if we don't do something soon, he might."

They put him on a stretcher and brought him to another part of the hospital wing, one with more advanced medical equipment. Including life support, if that became necessary.

Kitty absently started to sing again, a different tune this time.

Kurt seemed to be relaxing a bit. Maybe she should take a rest for a few minutes, while she could. She sat in the chair . . .

. . . and when the music stopped, she saw Kurt begin to stir. She rushed to his side again and  told him, "I hope you wake up soon. If you don't get better soon, I don't know what I'm going to do. You **have **to come back to us, Kurt."

Just then Kurt shuddered violently in his bed. Kitty yelled, "I need some help here **now**! He's having convulsions or something!"

Kitty watched helplessly as Xavier and the others rushed in and put Kurt in restraints again.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked.

"He's relapsing. His temperature's going through the roof. This isn't your usual illness—I think there's more going on here than we know."

"What are you suggesting, Professor?"

"I'm sensing some sort of mental interference. It's as if someone or something has control of Kurt's mind . . ."

"Like who?"

"I'm not really sure. I'm not aware of any mutants who can control dreams."

"Who would want to do this to Kurt?" Scott asked.

"Someone from his past, maybe?" Rogue suggested. "He said he had enemies before he came here."

"I'll look into that right away. In the meantime, Jean, you stay with him and see if you can reach Kurt somehow."

"I'll do what I can," Jean assured him.

Miles away, a twentysomething mutant watched a young girl in a trance. Her name was Mariel, but she called herself Reverie. She had come to New York to seek her fame and fortune. On her first day, she had met a man who offered to help her become a model. Once she went with him, though, she found the truth startlingly different.

She didn't know his name. He had told her to call him Jack. It seemed he had a problem with mutants in general, and with the X-Men in particular. And he needed her help to even the score.

He had used his weak telepathic power to locate the X-Man known as Nightcrawler. Then he forced Reverie to begin assaulting him in his sleep, turning his dreams to nightmares—and very bizarre nightmares at that. She hadn't wanted to hurt him, but Jack used his talents to brainwash her into submission.

"It's just a matter of time, Wagner, before you snap. I waited till you were weak and vulnerable, then I hit you with my secret weapon. And once you're disposed of—"

"Disposed of?" Reverie interrupted him. "You're not going to **kill **him, are you?"

"Why not?"

"You **can't! **He's . . ."

"He's the reason I have to hide like a fugitive instead of proudly walking through the highest levels of society. He's had this coming for a long time . . ."

Reverie tuned out the rest of Jack's rant. She wanted to ask what Kurt had done to him that had made him hate the boy so, but she didn't dare. She knew there had to be a better solution than killing him, but at the moment she was too scared to think straight. Maybe later, an opportunity would present itself, but for now she did as she was told.

Kurt was quieter now, but he still had the occasional fit. Try as she might, Jean couldn't break through the mental interference. Maybe she should ask the professor . . .

"How's it going?" Kitty asked.

Jean shook her head. "Not good. Whoever's doing this is pretty powerful."

"Like, Professor Xavier powerful?"

"I'm not sure.I can **almost** reach him, but then . . . it's like something keeps getting in my way."

"Do they know you're in there?"

"I wish I knew. I don't think so, but . . . it's possible that whoever's behind this is strong enough to shield their presence."

"Whoa."  Scott gasped. "Who's that powerful?"

"Cerebro is trying to locate the source of the mutant power now," Xavier said. "We've narrowed it down to a handful of locales, and I'm sending teams to each one to check it out."

That news did not sit well with Jack, who sensed them coming and planned to move himself and Reverie to a safer location.

But she had other ideas.

"I won't go with you," she told him.

"You **what?"**

"What you're doing is wrong, Jack! I won't be a part of it any more!"

He pushed her down to the floor. "Listen, you little tramp, you wouldn't even be alive without me! You do what **I say—"**

"Not any more," she said. "You can't stay awake forever . . ."


	4. Coming Out of the Dark

**SEWER TROLLS AND PSYCHO PENGUINS (part 4)**

"You really think you can hurt me?" Jack said.

"Everyone's vulnerable in their dreams," Reverie told him. "You taught me that. I don't know what your problem with Kurt Wagner is, but I won't help you kill him."

"What are you gonna do?"

Reverie glared at him. "Trust me, you don't want to find out."

Jack froze momentarily. He thought he'd planned this out down to the last detail. He thought no one would be able to interfere, least of all this tiny slip of a girl who barely came up to his chin. Who did she think she **was**?

Enraged, Jack lunged for Reverie's throat, but she thwarted his attacks by putting up a psychic block that sent him flying across the room.

"What the--?" He felt as if he'd been clobbered over the head with some heavy blunt instrument. He staggered back to his feet and came toward her again, only to be knocked back a second time. This only made him more determined to take her down . . .

But she wouldn't back down no matter what he did to her, and the more he lashed out, the harder she fought back, until at last Jack had had enough.

"What—what's gotten into you?" he gasped. He was beginning to wonder if he hadn't made a mistake. A **big **mistake.

"I'll tell you what's gotten into me, Jack! I'm sick of your manipulation and your power trips, and I'm not going to stand for any more!" Her eyes blazed  like forest fires, and Jack suddenly felt unsure of himself for the first time.

He gulped and started to run, but Reverie caught him and fastened him down with ropes to keep him from getting away. Every time he tried to overpower her, she'd hit him with another psychic blast, until he was too worn out to fight back.

"I'll be back for you," she said. 

"Where are you going?"

"To tell the X-Men exactly what you've been up to. I'll let them decide what to do with you then."

This was not good news to Jack. Leaving him in the hands of the X-Men, after he had attacked one of their own . . . truly a fate worse than death.

Two hours later, Reverie returned, and she wasn't alone. Wolverine and Storm were right behind her. And they didn't look happy.

"Your little head games are over, John," Storm warned him. "You shouldn't have assaulted Kurt."

Jack looked up. How did they know his real name? **No one **knew his real name—not Reverie, not anyone. And then he realized how they must have known . . .

"He deserved it!" Jack shouted defiantly. "That **freak **took my spot! He went to your Institute instead of me! It should have been me!"

"Professor Xavier already explained in the letter," Storm told him calmly.

"Oh, right, the **letter**. He couldn't even tell me to my face!"

Wolverine slashed out at the ropes holding Jack down, then grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet. "You're the kind of guy who gives mutants a bad name. I don't blame Chuck for turning you down, if this is what you're capable of."

"What are you going to do to me?" Jack demanded.

"Us?" Logan said. "Nothing. But I have a friend . . . he's just starting up a kind of rehabilitation program for wayward mutants. Not quite your regular community service project . . . but not prison, either."

"I'll take it!"

"I wasn't asking you. You don't have a choice, bub."

"You mean . . . ?" Jack didn't like where this was going.

"You belong to me now."

At that moment Jack wished he were dead.

After the excitement was over, Storm and Logan turned to Reverie. 

"What happens now?" the girl asked. "Where do I go?"

A perfect opening if there ever was one. "We'd like to offer you a place with us," Storm said. "We work at a school for mutants, like yourself. You could learn more about your powers and how to use them wisely."

"And you'd be safe from dirtbags like him," Logan added. "We teach you how to protect yourself."

The girl didn't know what to say. "I . . . don't know if I'm worthy. I hurt that poor boy—"

"That kid brought most of it on himself."

"I was talking about—Kurt, is it? The one I made dream. How is he?"

"He's doing better now," Storm said. "Once he's had a few days to recuperate, he should be fine."

"That's good. I didn't mean to hurt him, you know. It was Jack who forced me to do that. I've never met anyone so bitter or . . . evil, if that's not too strong a word." She shook her head sadly. "There doesn't seem to be any way to change him."

"No, there doesn't. Yet."

"What can I do for him now?"

Wolverine said, "Don't worry about him. He won't be hurting anyone else, where he's going."

"That's good," Reverie said. "I didn't really want to hurt him either. Even if he deserved it."

"Are you coming with us?" Storm asked.

Reverie didn't need much time to think it over. "Yes, I think I will."

Kurt was floating in a smoky void. Trolls, penguins, Mystique . . . all had faded away, at least for now.  He was gradually returning to the real world with Jean's help. He felt as if he'd been released from some kind of spell . . .

He opened his eyes.

Kitty was standing beside his bed with some girl he didn't know. "Welcome back," Kitty said. "You really had us worried for a while there, Kurt."

"Vhat happened?"

"First I'd like you to meet someone. This is Mari, but her code name's Reverie. She . . . controls dreams."

"Ah." Kurt tried to sit up. It seemed that he'd been floating in the darkness for days. He wondered what time it was.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Mari said. "There was this other guy . . ."

She told him the whole story, beginning from when Jack first found her and conned her into helping him. Several times she paused to sip from a glass of water. She was starving. Jack hadn't let her eat until she finished what she had to do for him, which meant she hadn't had anything in . . . two days? Three? 

"I think we could both use something to eat," she said to Kitty. "We've been through a lot, Kurt and I."

"Okay." Kitty went to the kitchen to get them some food.

When she was gone, Mari said, "You really like her, don't you?"

"Of course I like her . . . you mean **like** her, like her?" Kurt thought about it. "I guess so. But she . . . doesn't feel the same—"

"Kurt, she's been here beside you the whole time you've been here," Jean told him. "She sang to you, and held your hand, and did everything she could to help you. Maybe she does feel the same after all."

"She did all zhat?"

Jean nodded. "I have to go study for a test," she said. "You don't mind if I leave you two alone, do you?"

Mari looked over. "I don't mind if Kurt doesn't mind."

Kurt saw her expression and said, "I don't blame you for vhat happened. He hurt you just like he hurt me. Vorse, maybe." His three-fingered hand reached out to hers. "Friends?"

"Friends." 


End file.
